


Random Acts of Kindness

by cissues



Category: Pacific Rim
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Random Acts of Kindness Week AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 07:16:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3110888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cissues/pseuds/cissues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a school instated Random Acts of Kindness Week, Hermann keeps receiving gifts for someone named "Geiszler".  After a whole week of this, he decides to investigate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Random Acts of Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't posted anything in AGES and also I have never posted a pac rim fic even though I've been obsessed with it for almost a year and I have like 23 incomplete Newt/Hermann fics SOOOOO I thought I'd whip this together because I thought it was a cute idea. It's rushed but yeah idk here ya go, unbeta'd and barely edited ;o

Hermann frowned as he gently rolled the bag of chocolates in his hand. The note attached said “ _in a random act of kindness, here’s a sweetie for a sweetie. To: Geiszler_ ”. The note was… rather adorable. Hermann smiled and placed it in the box where he was keeping the rest of the Geiszler-related paraphernalia he was apparently collecting.

There must be something about his German last name - Gottlieb - and the German name of Geiszler that was so utterly similar to the simple American minds at MIT that now, during Kindness Week, he was receiving every one of Geiszler’s random acts of kindness. He tried to ignore the fact that there had been absolutely no random acts of kindness for Gottlieb, which was becoming difficult when Geiszler had a veritable pile of gifts from their adoring fans.

It was becoming increasingly more difficult to rationalize not finding Geiszler and returning their gifts. Hermann had been telling himself that his leg was the problem, that Geiszler could be anywhere within the many MIT housing units and therefore very difficult to track down.

The reality of it was that Geiszler was most likely in his building somewhere and he could always take a preemptive painkiller or even just ask one of the other students to deliver it all for him. However, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a little curious about the nature of the person who was so loved.

With a dramatic sigh, Hermann dry-swallowed an Advil and grabbed his cane with one hand and the cardboard box of gifts with the other and headed out of the door.

The building wasn’t overwhelmingly large, only about five floors. Still, he wasn’t quite sure where to start. He didn’t even know the gender of Geiszler which would have vastly cut down his adventure. He started in the next floor up, thinking he could go up and then work his way back down again. He lived on the fourth floor. It couldn’t take too long.

It took three hours.

When he asked his twelfth fellow resident if they had ever, for the life of them, heard of a Geiszler around anywhere and where they might live, he finally got an enthusiastic yes.

The girl he asked was small, stick-straight black hair cut into a bob and the front of it dyed a bright blue. She smiled wide at the mention of Geiszler and momentarily glanced towards the hall of rooms to the right of her.  
“Yes, he lives down there.” She said, pointing at the co-ed hall that Hermann had yet to make it to. “Why do you ask?” She lifted a well-groomed eyebrow and folded her arms, her smile turning sly.  
Hermann hoisted his box of goodies to draw attention to them. “His ‘kindness week’ gifts have been showing up at my door for the last week now and I just wanted to deliver them. He seems to be rather popular.”  
The girl froze for a moment, then peered into the box curiously, then glanced back down the hall. “At your door?” She asked, arms unwinding until they fell gracelessly at her sides.  
“Yes, that’s what I said.” Hermann frowned at her odd expression.  
“You would not happen to be Hermann Gottlieb, would you?” She asked somewhat nervously.  
Hermann cleared his throat, a little put off.  
“Uh… yes I am.” He answered, confusion clear from his expression and tone. The girl sighed loudly and threw her hands up above her head. “I told them that this was a bad idea. Why do these boys never listen to me?” She exclaimed before stomping off.

Hermann looked down into the box, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He was smart. He could figure this out himself if he really tried. Could it perhaps be a joke? Was Geiszler a very unpopular boy and having Hermann deliver his gifts would make him look foolish? As if he fancied someone that no one liked? Was it a set-up? Did Geiszler even exist?

Steeling himself, Hermann hobbled down the hallway. He checked each and every nameplate on the door before - about halfway down the hall - the name ‘ _Newton Geiszler_ ’ was written in ridiculous bubble letters. Underneath, a sign with the name ‘ _Mako Mori_ ’ hung in much stricter, much less childish font.

It took a moment of Hermann’s fist hovering in front of the door before he closed his eyes and knocked three times, loud and clear. He didn’t notice music had been playing until it stopped and there was some concerning scrambling and clattering. Then a squeaky “One second!” was shouted through the door.

Hermann sighed and leaned against the wall while he waited, his hip giving him more issues than he needed right now.

Finally, the door swung open and immediately he recognized the face of Geiszler, although he had never connected it to the name. Geiszler was in his Applied Physics class with him and would often look about as bored as him, answering each question flawlessly as it was passive-aggressively thrown at him by a frustrated teacher. When he saw Hermann, Geiszler became rigid.

“Gottlieb.” He croaked out before clearing his throat and reflexively crossing his arms over his chest. “What, uh, what can I do you for?” He asked, licking his lips out of a clear nervous habit.

Hermann watched all of this in fascination before handling the box to his front. “There must have been some mistake where everyone believed you were me, or I was you, as all of your Random Acts of Kindness gifts had been left at my door.” He informed Geiszler succinctly before shoving the box into his hands. “It was cluttering my room.”

Geiszler peered into the box, forehead creased. “I don’t understand.” He murmured, glancing back up at Hermann.  
Hermann lifted a curious brow.  
“I’ve been getting Random Acts of Kindness gifts all week. I don’t know why someone - or someones - would be bothering to give me so many. I definitely don’t have that many friends here.” He hugged the box to himself anyway.  
Hermann shrugged but the image of the girl in the hallway came back to him.  
“Someone mentioned something ‘being a bad idea’ when I explained the situation to her? Perhaps it was a set-up? Some sort of… incredibly strange joke?”

It was like a light went off in Geiszler’s head. “Oh.” He breathed, looking back in the box. When he looked back up his cheeks were bright, splotchy red. “Oh my god.” He set the box on the ground and pressed his face into his hands. “I am so sorry. Oh my god my friends are assholes.”  
Hermann couldn’t help the swell of curiosity in his stomach. “I would love an explanation.” He prompted, trying not to sound threatening but sort of failing. Geiszler stared at him, the fear only a little obvious.  
“Yeah, of course, come in.” He offered, retreating back into the room and leaving the door open. Hermann closed it behind him.

“So… um… wow this is really awkward.” Geiszler started off, kicking the box on the ground and glaring at it like an obnoxious puppy. He sighed and collapsed into one of the beds set low to the ground. He gestured to a chair, but Hermann opted to seat himself next to Geiszler on the bed, knowing it was better for his hip than some wooden chair.

Geiszler was blushing again and scooted so that he was cross legged and facing Hermann. “So…” He started again, covering his face with both hands. “So, we have Applied Physics together and… wow, this is so embarrassing. Please don’t think I’m some weirdo after this, please.” He pleaded, pulling his hands away momentarily to give Hermann a genuinely pained look. Hermann nodded, not really sure what to expect and Geiszler replaced his hands.  
“We have Applied Physics together and I thought you were way cute like… the first day. And then you started asking and answering questions and your accent is super hot and your brain is super hot and so I sort of developed a crush on you. It wasn’t -- isn’t? -- big, but it was definitely there and sometimes I would… I would talk about you to my friends and so I guess my friends Raleigh and Tendo --” His hands slid from his face (which was still bright red) but his eyes didn’t meet Hermann’s, “You know Tendo from Robotics club I think? -- decided it would be a fucking _great idea_ to trick you into coming to talk to me or something because they love to play God. Anyway, I guess that trick was to plant gifts to me in front of your door so that you had to deliver them to me? Which is an awful plan. Totally not clever at all.”

Geiszler still wouldn’t look at him. Hermann was a little dumbfounded that anyone, especially someone like Geiszler who was conventionally attractive with his tussled hair and ripped jeans, would find him attractive enough to crush, much less crush on him enough that his friends felt like he needed intervention.  
“Not that I expect that you’re like that, but please don’t beat me up.” Geiszler murmured, fingers digging into his thighs.

Hermann took in a deep breath and reached over to place a hand over those fingers, a soft smile slipping naturally onto his lips.

“That is very low on my list of things that I want to do to you, honestly.” He said with a hint of playfulness. Much to the surprise of… well… everyone… Hermann is a very good flirt. His smile melted into a smirk and when Geiszler - Newton, he supposed he should start calling him - glanced up at him, finally, he couldn’t help but move in a little closer.

He wasn’t going to deny that Newton was attractive. He had that bad-boy-with-a-nerdy-edge thing down pat, which worked really well for Hermann. He was also shorter, which Hermann liked, and there were peeks of tattoos that Hermann had seen throughout the last semester which was also very hot. Plus, Newton was really smart. Clearly, they were on par with each other academically. That made it very easy for Hermann to justify what he said next.

“In fact… I wouldn’t mind perhaps going on a date one of these days. I wouldn’t mind your company, I don’t think.”

Newton was still staring, but slowly his expression melted from shock into excitement. “Oh my god, yes that sounds great!” He moved his hand so that they could fit them together and then Newton was very close to his face.  
“Is it okay if I kiss you?” He asked, breathing a little unsteady. It was Hermann’s turn to be surprised before he nodded and felt the sweetness of Newton on his mouth.

They ended up making out for a while, as was the nature of college relationships. By the time they had their first date they had already gone down on each other a few times and had been regularly making out for about two weeks. It took another two months before they called each other “boyfriend”. Newton still jokes that Hermann was the best Random Acts of Kindness gift ever.


End file.
